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Pilot / Episode 1: Arrivals
Credits Written by: Ellen Kushner Cover Illustration by: Kathleen Jennings Art Director: Charles Orr Lead Writer: Ellen Kushner Editor: Delia Sherman Producers: Racheline Maltese and Julian Yap Tremontaine original concept by Ellen Kushner Synopsis Diane, Duchess Tremontaine, hopes to make an arrangement with the Kinwiinik Traders to raise the money she needs to pay off a loan before her husband, William, Duke Tremontaine, knows that she has taken out the loan and mortgaged his beloved Highcombe to do it--and certainly before the mortgage comes due. Ixkaab Balam, first daughter of a first daughter of the House of Balam of the Traders of the Kinwiinik arrives on the Wasp, the ship Diane is waiting for. Ixkaab, also known as Kaab, is in exile to the City following some unspecified incident on her recent mission to the Tullan Empire. She is clearly both a trader and a spy. Rather than go right to her family's home in the City, however, she goes first to Riverside. Misunderstanding an argument she overhears between Tess, who catches her eye, and Ben, she challenges Ben. He defeats her in a duel to first blood, and then leaves to visit his father, who is dying. Micah Heslop, dressed as a boy, comes to the city with her cousin Reuben to sell vegetables in the River Street Marketplace. Harcourt Onophrion buys all of their turnips and Micah helps carry them. While trying to follow his instructions about getting a hot drink at the Ink Pot, she finds herself in Doctor Padstow's math lecture, which she understands better than most of the students there. However, she runs when he asks if she's a geometer and gets lost and disoriented in a crowd of students. One of the students guides her to the Ink Pot. At the Ink Pot, Micah advises Rafe, unable to bear the mistakes he's making in his card game. Rafe draws her into the game and several others, both at the Ink Pot and at the Gilded Cockatrice, and then takes her to get food and lets her stay in the rooms he shares with other students. Rafe and his friends remain unaware that Micah is a girl. Rafe tells Micah about his father, who is a merchant and wants Rafe to study accounting and law and join the family business. Rafe has other ideas, wanting to spread true scholarship throughout the land. Micah promises him that she will study at University to give it a chance, until the next market day, in a week. Kaab is welcomed by her family in the City. Diane goes to a party, having used her skill and her maid Lucinda's to remake an old dress and give her a look of deliberate carelessness. The party is hosted by Clara, Lady Galing, who has been instructed by her husband, the Crescent Chancellor, to show his lover, Lord Asper Lindley, every courtesy. Asper takes full advantage of this, even when it causes Clara physical pain. Diane seems to feel a rare anger on her hostess's behalf, although she hides it. On her own behalf, she finds his references to his past with her husband tedious (even though she only learned about this past earlier that day), and she finds it annoying not to be able to demolish him with her wit, but settles for keeping him unsure of where he stands with her. She allows Lord Humphrey Devize to escort her to the afternoon's entertainment, having pondered and rejected the idea of asking him for the money to pay off the loan. She remains firm in her plan of going to the Kinwiinik. Timeline It's a windy, rainy day at the start of the episode. The first spring storms are here. The Kinwiinik Trader ship, The Wasp, is arriving with chocolate, feathers, exotic spices, colorful cloth, and Ixkaab Balam. Micah and Reuben arrive at the city Ben's father is dying, and Ben goes to see him after the duel with Kaab. Arc / Plot Points Diane needs money to pay off the Highcombe mortgage, and none of the noble families can be permitted to know that this mortgage even existed. Diane didn't tell William about using Highcombe as collateral for a loan to finance the Everfair, possibly partly because he wasn't able to sleep the last time they took out a loan, even though that loan was repaid with profits from the harvest of the very vineyards that were collateral. William is on the Board of Governors of the University and on the Council of Lords. He loves the University. Diane advises William about how to handle meetings of the Council of Lords. She may not write all his speeches, but she certainly vets them all. William loves deeply, and has been in love with at least one man, Asper Lindley. William was not the one who broke it off. Diane has set the fashion for the season. Kaab's visit to the City is an exile, a punishment for some unspecified incident that happened on her mission to the Tullan Empire. Kaab is both a trader and a spy. She knows how to kill with a needle, leaving no trace. She learned how to use a sword from the Xamanwiinik sailmaker on the Wasp. Kaab is taken with Tess. Ben is going to his father's funeral. Micah is a mathematical genius. Micah does not deal well with crowds or being touched. Micah is going to give scholarship and the University a try, for a week. She doesn't expect trouble from her family about this. Micah never refers to her parents, only to cousins and an aunt and uncle. Rafe is a merchant's son, but wants to spread true scholarship throughout the Land. Cultural and World Information Chocolate comes from the land where the city Bikiinha is located. It's unclear what that land is called. There are many different types of chocolate of differing quality. Bikiinha has some kind of diplomatic relationship with the Tullan Empire. Being the first daughter of a first daughter carries at least some status in Bikiinha. The Kinwiinik call the people of the Land the Xanamwiinik. The Land, or at least, the City, is a lot colder than Bikiinha or the Tulan Empire. Traders wear clothing in the Local style, i.e., the style of the land they are currently in. There is gold in Nopalco. All knowing Chacmul is one of the Kinwiinik gods, as are Ahkin, and Xamanek, whose light Kaab silently swears by. The people of the Land and the Bakhim both seem to have a tradition of protesting three times before accepting a gift, at least in certain formal situations. The Horned God is a god of the Land, and luck seems to be one of his qualities. The Land had a king, but now has a Council of Lords. The Council meets in the Hall of Justice in the City. The Hall of Justice was built during the days of the old kings. In the City, the nobles live on the Hill. There is also the Middle City and the University. Riverside is an island in the middle of the river, home to those considered disreputable by most of the rest of the City. The City Watch doesn't go to Riverside. The University has a Horn Chair of History, probably sponsored at some point in the past by a Lord Horn. There is a red wine known as Ruthven red. There are potatoes in the Land. The City has tomato pies, which bear more than a passing resemblance to our pizza. The City has a Riverboaters' Masquerade in the month before spring. The Land celebrates Year's End. Card games played in the City include Constellations and Hole in the Corner. Cards named include Suns, Comets, Crowns, Celestials, and Beasts. Someone has a Two of Beasts, but Rafe refers to himself as having a pair of Beasts. Easter Eggs Onophrion Zitwitz is a character in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. Miscellany Episode Summaries Tremontaine Home